Society Girls: Sierra (2 page)

“You can go in now, Sierra,” she tells
me.

“Thanks.”

I make my way down the hall and raise my
hand to knock. The double doors of Reina’s office open before my
hand can connect. I chuckle as I look inside, seeing my
sister-in-law, Ainsley, and her friend Darcy inside the office as
well as Reina and Jane Corrigan.

“Please come in, Sierra,” Reina tells me
with a smile.

I walk in and take the open seat next to
Darcy. “I didn’t realize this was a group thing,” I say, pulling at
the bottom of my patterned blouse as I bite my lip. “I have no idea
why I’m here, and I’m honestly even more confused right now than I
was sitting out there waiting.”

“I’m sorry for all of the secrecy, but even
though you know what we really do here, what we need to discuss
with you is something new, and, well, pretty exciting for us.”

I
do
know what really goes on here.
Besides the great work the Foundation does publicly, they do even
more privately. The women of the Society are spies. Ten agents who
go undercover, and help right the wrongs that are committed against
those who can’t protect themselves. They also sometimes take on
private jobs, like figuring out who’s trying to sabotage a football
team. Which is how I found out about them—they saved me, my
brother, and a whole football stadium full of players and
fans.

Ainsley was undercover, and while Zack was
pissed at her for it, I was intrigued. Since then, she’s taught me
how to shoot a gun and use other weapons, how to hack into computer
systems, and some other really cool things. There’s never been a
guarantee that a Society position would open up, but I’m in a good
position should that happen. I’m hoping it’s happening right
now.

“What’s new?” I ask, trying to hide my
excitement.

“As you are well aware, every woman in the
Society is currently married, some are having babies, and pretty
much everyone has been in the public eye recently. As a result,
we’ve decided to bring in a whole new group of women, all at once
for the first time, to train as agents.”

“Yes.”

“We haven’t asked you anything, my dear.”
Jane reminds me with a smile.

“Oh. I just thought…I mean…why am I
here?”

“So we can ask you if you want to try to
become one of us,” Darcy tells me with a laugh.

“Yes. I want to. Yes.” I
don’t even care that I sound like an idiot. I
want
this.

“It’s not going to be easy. You will have to
pass ten different areas of training. Some may be easier for you
than others, but all need to be mastered. There’s only pass or fail
with us. We can’t have it any other way, because when we go out on
missions, lives are at stake,” Reina tells me.

“I understand.”

“I’ve shown her some things already. I have
faith in her,” Ainsley says.

“Thanks,” I tell her.

“We all have faith in you, Sierra. You
wouldn’t be here otherwise,” Reina lets me know.

“What do I have to do?”

“As for right now, nothing. I—we—want to
take the time to make sure we do this right, since it’s never been
done before with ten women at once. I’m anticipating that it will
take around a year to get things up and running. In the meantime,
go about your daily life almost like you normally would.”

“Almost?”

“Yes,” she tells me with a smile. “I want
you to pay closer attention to what is going on around you. Both in
your daily interactions, and in the news. While you may not be
officially training yet, it’s going to be beneficial for you to
start working on things already. Keep going to the gun range and
working on your computer skills.”

“Okay. I can do that. There’s just one
thing,” it’s something I’m worried about because of what she said
about why they are doing this.

“You’re worried about being in the
spotlight.”

“Yes. There have been some new stories on
our family, and while I’m not a household name, there are people
who know who I am.” That just comes with the territory when your
brother’s a football god.

“We’re actually thinking we can use it to
our advantage. Just like with Ainsley, Darcy, Audrey, and me,
you’ll be invited places that we need to get into. Other times,
we’ll teach you how to disguise yourself to blend in.”

“That’s a relief.”

“You wouldn’t be here if Reina thought
there’d be a problem,” Jane tells me.

“So when the year is up, what happens?”

“It may be less than a year, but when the
time comes, you’ll move into an apartment in our building and start
training. Darcy will be mentoring you, and while you’ll have some
free time, most of your days and nights will be spent trying to
pass your classes.”

“You’re mentoring me, Darce?” I ask.

“Yes. When you let me hide out with you last
year, you told me you wanted to be one of us, and also that you
didn’t want it to be because I was kicked out. You impressed me,
and I want the chance to help you through this. I won’t go easy on
you, but I’ll support you however I can.”

“I didn’t think I could be impartial,”
Ainsley explains, looking worried.

“It’s fine,” I tell her. “I can’t wait to
work with all of you, and I’m glad to have Darcy as my mentor. I
won’t fail. I promise”

I mean it. Failure is not an option for me.
I want to be a part of the Society more than I’ve ever wanted
anything else in my life. Yes, I went to college, and I’ve been
working in an auction house for the last couple of years, but I’ve
never felt like that was my calling. This—the Society—is what I’ve
wanted since I knew it existed. No matter what they throw at me,
I’ll pass these classes. I have to.

* * *

One year later

Sierra

It’s finally here. Day one of my training in
the Society. Today we’re getting all of our security clearances,
filling out forms, receiving our class schedules, and moving into
our apartments. It feels a little like college again, but more
intense. There are four other girls with me in the elevator that’s
descending to the bowels of the Corrigan & Co. building. I
don’t recognize any of them, but I smile at them, and they smile
back.

Stepping off the elevator, I hear a yell,
and then I’m enveloped in a hug from no less than a princess. “Hi
Jen,” I tell her with a laugh.

“I’m so glad to see you, Si.”

Jenysis is Darcy’s husband’s cousin. He gave
up his kingdom for her, and Jen’s dad took over as king, making her
a princess. She was a Lady before, I think. All I know is that I’m
as glad to see her as she is to see me. We met over a year ago, and
we’ve stayed in contact. Of course, neither of us could tell the
other we were being recruited.

“You, too.”

“I didn’t realize I was walking into a
sorority house,” a bitchy looking blonde says with a sneer on her
face.

“So not a sorority girl,” I say, glaring
right back at her. “Not that it’s really any of your business.”

“Actually, anything that goes on with one of
you will be important to all of you,” Reina says, walking in with a
scowl on her face and her girls at her back. “The bond you form
with one another is just as important as the training you’ll be
receiving. You’ll have to depend on each other, and trust each
other, while you’re on missions. And it will be the support and
help from your friends that will help you get through this
training. I’ve leaned on these nine women more than I ever thought
I would, and they all know I’d do the same for them. Sisterhood is
paramount to us. We would never hurt or betray one another, and we
expect you all to feel the same way about each other. Do you
understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Let’s get started.”

Darcy comes over and gives me a hug before
leading me to her office. I take a seat, and she motions to a
packet on the table in front of me.

“This has everything you need to know for
right now in it. Someone from Ainsley’s team will be by to do your
hand and retina scans. Those will get you into the elevators and
our rooms here, as well as your apartment. Chloe Griffin took your
color choices and style into consideration, and created an
apartment for you that I think you’ll love. Your place isn’t as big
as ours, but if you pass, you’ll be moved to a custom place on a
higher floor.”

“I’m sure the apartment will be perfect.”
Hell, I’d live in a box if it meant I could work here.

She nods, and then looks serious. “We have
to go over the results of the tests we had you take last
month.”

“Okay.”

“You scored high in technology, weapons,
sparring, fashion, and research. You did okay in analysis,
etiquette, science, and blending. Languages is where it looks like
we may have a problem.”

“I took Spanish in high school. I still
remember most of it.”

“I know. That helps a little, but you’re
going to need to master at least three other languages, and one of
them has to be complex. I think you’ll be fine with French, and
Italian for two of them. For the other one, you can choose between
Arabic, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, Turkish, or
Russian.”

“Do I have to decide now?” I ask, panicking.
I knew training wouldn’t be easy, but I didn’t expect a big
obstacle so soon.

“Not right now, but Reina will want to know
what you choose by the end of the week so she can plan out your
studies.”

“Reina is teaching languages?”

“Yes. She’s fluent in pretty much every
language on the planet.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, I know. She’s all that, and a bag of
chips. No pressure for the rest of us.”

“What are you teaching?”

“You can’t laugh.”

“Okay,” I tell her with a shrug. I know she
used to be a cat burglar, so I’m guessing it’s blending.

“Etiquette.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. Apparently all of my princess
training has made me the expert. It’s pretty embarrassing.”

“I think you’re still a bad-ass.”

“Thanks.”

We spend the rest of the day going over the
paperwork I need to fill out, my salary while training—which is
more in a month than I made in the last year an assistant at the
auction house in Seattle—and various policies and procedures.
Basically, everyone else in the building will think we are
Foundation interns, and we have to act the part. It’s a simple form
of on-the-job training, but an important one. We can’t slip up. Not
that I intend to. I had no problem playing the part of intern while
flirting with the junior execs from C&C in the cafeteria this
morning. Now I just need to worry about mastering a complex
language.

Joel

I don’t know what I’m doing here. Actually,
I do—I just don’t want to admit it to myself. Zack Taylor, invited
me over for some kind of celebration for his sister, and I came
running. Not to see Taylor, who I became friends with a few years
ago when we were both participating in a charity event. Oh, no. I’m
hoping to see his sister. The one who took my breath away when I
saw her walking down the aisle at his wedding, and then had my dick
coming to life when she threw back shots, and shook her ass on the
dance floor during the reception. She seemed to be going out of her
way to ignore me, and even turned me down when I asked her to
dance, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. Which explains why
I’m standing here in the middle of Taylor’s living room, despite
the lack of single females who’d be willing to blow me in the
backyard.

There are a few single ladies, but that’s
just it—they’re ladies. No bat bunnies, although admittedly, I
haven’t had one of those in over a year. When I got hurt, and had
to come here to Vegas to get back into shape with the farm team,
the ones back home forgot about me. Until the rumors about my
return started circling, and now they all want a piece of me again.
The problem is, I don’t want them anymore. I didn’t really know
what I wanted until I saw Sierra Taylor in her bridesmaid dress.
After that, no one else has held my attention, and my teammates
have given me the nickname of “Eunuch” because I haven’t taken
anyone home—or into a random bathroom—for months.

I’ve been back in Las Vegas for the past
couple of months, working on getting back to 100% so I can rock
Spring Training, and go back to the team. I haven’t had a woman
here, either. My dick and I are both hoping Sierra will want to
play tonight. If not, my hand might just fall off soon.

My phone rings while I’m waiting, and I
smile when I see it’s my mom. I walk outside and answer, spending
the next ten minutes filling her in on what’s been going on with me
and how my shoulder’s doing. We speak in English, until the end
where she tells me she loves me in our native Portuguese. I answer
her back with a smile on my face.

“Eu também te amo, mãe. Adeus.”

“What language is that?” I hear from behind
me.

I turn around, annoyed until I see that the
object of my fantasies is the one who asked the question. She’s
wearing one of those bandage style dresses. It’s strapless, and
goes from pink on top to shades of blue, green, and white, before
ending above her knees. Her long brown hair is down, and loose,
making me want to grab it and pull her to me.

“Hello? Did you hear me?” she asks.

“Huh? Oh yeah. I was speaking
Portuguese.”

Her eyes go wide. “I need to learn
that.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. My internship with the Corrigan &
Co. Foundation requires me to learn a few languages. Portuguese is
one of the ones I can choose from.”

“I could help you.”

“What’s in it for you?”

“What are you offering?” I ask, stepping
closer to her.

“What do you want?”

“You. I want you, Sierra.”